During a bumpy first few days, Covid’s shadow looms as a Russian figure skater shines.

The Winter Olympics are heating up — and not always in the best of ways.

Despite the great lengths officials went to in order to protect athletes within the Olympic bubble, Vincent Zhou, the American figure skating hopeful, tested positive for the coronavirus and missed the end of the team competition. He will not compete in the men’s individual competition that begins Tuesday.

“It seems pretty unreal that of all the people it would happen to myself,” he said. “I’ve taken all the precautions I can. I’ve isolated myself so much that the loneliness that I felt in the last month or two has been crushing at times.”

Mikaela Schiffrin, who is trying to become the first American skier to win three Alpine Olympic gold medals, started off too fast in the giant slalom and fell in her first run, disqualifying her from the competition. She wasn’t the only one to take a big spill. (Shiffrin has four races remaining in the Olympics, including her best event, the slalom, on Wednesday.)

And in hockey, misgivings over coronavirus testing for the Russian women’s team led to a 65-minute delay of a game against Canada. When the puck finally dropped, everyone was wearing a mask, including the referees.

But even amid the drama, there were moments of awe.

Russian skaters won the team competition behind the performance of the 15-year-old phenom Kamila Valieva, whose history-making free skate on Monday included the first two quadruple jumps landed by a woman at an Olympics. Ireen Wüst of the Netherlands became the first person to win an individual gold medal at five Olympics and, at age 35, the oldest speedskating gold medalist ever.

And Casey Dawson, a 21-year-old American speedskater, is on his way to Beijing after testing requirements kept him in Salt Lake City last week as the Games began.

Now, as the Beijing Games head into the first full week of competition, all eyes will be on marquee events, including men’s figure skating, freestyle skiing and cross-country skiing.

In the absence of Zhou, Nathan Chen will try to lead the United States to gold in men’s figure skating, beginning with the short program. He had a flawless performance in the team event last week, but his Olympic rival, Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan, is back, too. Chen, a three-time world champion, is the defending Olympic champion.